The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-02-12
SOLDERING IN AFRICA.


Frenchman's Remarkable Adventures
while Captive Among the Arabs.
a lot ct emigrants stepped from the
ears at the Union Depot recently.
Among them was Frenchman
named Victor Muller, with his wife
and two children. He had remark
able story of adventure his life. and
as he rested in hotel preparatory to
going out. house-hunting he related it
to reporter as follows:
"When 1 was young 1 had great
love for the army, and at the
age of seventeen | went to Stras-
bourg to become soldier, was put
into an infantry regiment from which
was transferred in six weeks to the
Third regiment of zouaves. While
among them | was sent to Algiers,
where staid for about fifteen years,
fighting the Arabs or living the miser-
able life of French soldier in Tan
gier."
"Why miserablep"
"Well, the country is awfully hot,
and anybody who is not used toit suf-
fers terribly"
"Did you do any active service?"
Eyes, and plenty of it. The Arabs
en- the northern coast of Africa are con-
stantly revolving against the supremacy
Of the French, whom that country costs
many drop of blood in year Many
friend did / lose while l was out
there. Once when we were on the
desert-We had been after a detach-
ment of Arab horsemen-we lost our
way, and we roamed for about a week
through the vast sea of sand which
stretches itself through the northern
part of Africa-the Sahara. Our sup
. ply of water had given out, and we
were almost dying of thirst, while our
knapsacks with provisions were almost
empty. To get some water and some
food we resorted at last to the measure
Of killing one of the camels thatwe had
with us The camel has stomach which
is divided into four parts, one of which
contains the water just as the animal
drinks it. We opened that part, and to
our great JOY there was enough water to
give us all at least cupfNl each. On
the sixth day our number had dwindled
down to seven, when cavalcade OF
Arabian horsemen came upon us, and
we, being too weak to defend ourselves,
were made prisoners and taken tC
Taghit, town in Morocco.
Here our Captain was killed in the
most horrible manner by the Arabs
They tore his nails one by one from hi;
fingers, cut out his tongue, and
chopped off his ears before they finally
killed him. l myself was sold the next
day to rich Moor, who made me his
valet. l had here conn aratively an easy
life, but they forced me there to join the
religion of Mohammed. Unfortunately
my master died, and he leaving nj
heirs was taken back by the Govern
ment as their property. They, no
being able to dispose of me immediate
ly, sent me to Morocco, where wa
put into a dungeon among criminals o
the most degraded character. How
ever, l appealed to the Sultan, throLgl
the governor of the prison, and / wa
released, principally because had be
come Mussulman. ran through tn
town, from one end to the other, whel
at last | found occupation with a He
brew, who took me in as a water-ca1
rier and general servant. AS soon as
had saved some money, left Morocco
for Algiers The dangers l encOunt
cred on my long and wcarisome joul
ney were horrible-not 50 much fror
the people or from beasts as from tn
horrible climate. For five days tray
eled through a dreary, barren deser
was without food for two days. 0
several occasions ! was misled by th
Fata Morgana The Fata Morgana
a reflection Of some distant place in tn
rays of the sun, and is very deceivin
to travellers, especially on the deser
had left Tlcmeen, the town wher
Abd-el-Kader vanished the French i
1885, the day previous. When @
on the desert l had small flask
water, which / had been obliged t
buy, as there was drought in I'll,
meen, making water so scarce that
sometimes came to twenty centimt
Qour cents) pint.
when the water in my flask gay
out seemed to feel awfully thirsty;
became terribly detected, my head fe
dizzy snd ached dreadfully. 1 W;
wishing for the next town with all N
heart. The sun shone down upon Il
countrywith scorching heat. The san
was so hot that it burned the soles
my feet. With fainting heart l LITE
un my heed To see whether any trpns ,